Tag Archives: May

The Weather is finally warming up and last weekend we had the peak bloom for the crab apple trees down Foxfire Blvd. I was able to get the greens treated Last Friday for Waitea Patch & Microdochium nivale, and Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. Thanks Paul Campbell for the product. The turf responded well and with the timely rain Friday of .22″ and Sunday evening of .30″ it helped the uptake of the Nutrients and suppressed the diseases. The bentgrass fairways will need to be treated next on Players Club. The crabapple blooms peaked Saturday for the Derby.

Treceia helped mow some of the Range this afternoon while I picked it.

Thanks for the photo from Palm Springs Leslie. Glad y’all got to get away. Sorry it was 106 but that’s the Springs for ya! I played that course awhile back it is really neat.

See y’all on the course or the range out I’m picking balls. Please do not hit me while I’m driving the utility cart picking the range. Thank you!

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

We have more than normal Taraxacum on the property and I am 95% complete with the spraying, but I ran out of product to expedite the epinastical curation of this species.

I will spray greens next. Thank you Paul Camble for allowing me to pick up products for the greens to help me get started. I’m not sure how I would get what I needed with out your assistance. We have a little Spring disease on the greens and they are hungry. Tom did fertilize them in March but the Size Guide Number on the prill was too big for the Foxfire greens. That is why there are green dots on them and I switched him to the 100 SGN prill for Players Club. Even though we had the correct SGN for Players Club greens the fertilizer was not taken up by the plant, ergo we need liquid fertilizer for the C3 bundle sheath cells to aide in a rapid uptake and carbohydrate partitioning.

Back to, The herbicide for the dandelions is also working on many other perennial weeds. We have had a long winter and it is good to see some low humidity and sunshine. Jim as gotten more equipment ready this season than I have had the last four. Staff is slowly coming back. All the reels are sharp and the equipment is running the best it can given the age and the hours.

Brad has helped get the course ready since March and we would not be where we are with out his early arrival. We just had snow 12 days ago and the crabapple trees are a month behind blooming from 2017. It is going to take several days of sunlight and correct temperature for the Turfgrass to kick in.

I had some volunteers show up a few weeks ago one Friday to help. Paul C is on the Local board with me and brought his crew over one Friday afternoon to help start getting the bunkers ready. Supercool. Thank you sir. He has about 14 staff members for 18 holes.

The solenoid and actuator arm for the 300 gallon SDI sprayer came in and Jim will put those on as soon as I’m finished with the dandelions. We will need about 1/2 of a day to complete this process because the entire circuit has to come off the back to fix it. The center boom does not come off so I have to hurry up and get going once I start spraying. Wearable parts eventually wear.

Luis & Noah made it back to help and were able to get 9 Foxfire bunker cleaned out today. I will have after photos later but it looks great! Paula & Skippy have been raking bunkers as well. I got the roof fixed on the Players Club pump house last Friday. Mrs. Graves asked me to put a new tarp on it before it rained so Jim helped hold the ladder.

Hey y’all it’s wet on the course don’t be this guy!

Brad and I did charge up the Foxfire pump station about a month early so I could fill up the Sprayer in about 17 minutes opposed to 1 hour and 45 minutes with the well at the Shop. We do have a quick coupler seal leaking on 7 Foxfire to repair.

Watering the Frost off the greens Monday morning before the outing so we could mow greens and get the outing out on time. A trick I learned last century from Bill Kennedy. Great speaking with you today sir! Thanks Billy Bob for helping fix the tee sign, 150 yard marker and the drain on 10 Foxfire. You are the best handy man volunteer I got!

I have been picking the range for Vinny in my spare time and hopefully my certified range picker will be back next week. Here’s the tee Sign Billy Bob fixed.

Our 2-4-D arrival for the dandelions. Every vendor has a different way to deliver and when you have to go off the grid you get off the grid delivery service. No forks I had unload by hand so I got the Workman and backed under his tailgate and we pushed it in the Workman.

Jim got the Smithco ready today and we will utilize it tomorrow to get the Players club traps ready for the WGA event Thursday. Thank you to everyone for your help and welcome back Nancy W. Out of retirement to mow rough until my school bus driver neighbor Kevin shows up. Kevin your on deck bud! See you soon somewhere on the course!

My wife’s front yard. Only 12 Taraxacum in the lawn. Thank you Dillard for the Andersons! Just need a little mulch and some annuals from Haunty.

Psalms 5:3O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Thanks to all for helping out the last few weeks. We are continually progressing. Cover Photo is Mothers Day Sunrise from Myrtle Beach! Amazing! No, I’m not there but asked Paula to send me a photo because it has been about 16 years since I saw the sunrise there! The temperatures will be rising and I turned the water on players club today or yesterday by post ~for a test run last night. Luis is continuing to work in the bunkers preparing them for the outings this week. We will be applying plant nutrients and plant protectants to the fairways today. Brad will be mowing rough when Ramey gets the unit up and running again. As of 5 PM May 15 there were no major issues with the irrigation system on players club. We do need to add another pump in the pump house on players club we only have one pump and can only water so much at night. Below checking out the Lely Mr. G bought. It’s going to need some work. Video of Jim and Brad towing the 5200 D back to the shop.

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Saturday was a busy day cleaning mulch beds but we found time to add a little bit of color to Mrs. Graves’s house.

I did see a little mycelium Saturday morning but not much it was 43° and I did notice a lot of Cottonwood blooms had fallen in the fairways.

Cottonwood on the bottom and mycelium in the top one.

The boys of summer are starting to come back slowly but surely Joey LeBlanc is working on Saturdays and we now have Jacob Hastings back. Saturday morning came early after leaving the Baptist Church at 10:00 Friday night. 4:00 Am arrival.

Dr. One of the members told me I should write this statement and he has it in his office but I think it may say Health or Life vs Doctor instead of Golf Course & Superintendent.

Thanks Billy Bob for making the beautiful new Fairway post. Not sure how they are doing this season but there’s one in the dugout above. Thanks Matt for letting us utilize your “tractor” we were able to mow all the rough on both courses. Sunrise Moon Set Below. “Before the Noise” just me and Morlan the former MLB pitcher are there that early and can get some things done. Rainbow last week.

Don’t forget I got y’all Pink Flags for Tuesday “Ladies Day! And new cups and poles as well.

There is an entire Standard operating procedure for assembling ropes and stakes to herd the population. Notice no sagging rope or knots in it. If you can guess how I did it you will win a prize!
Frost 7 days ago.

Earlier years in my career. Day 1 north of. Charlotte. Today we have been married 7604 days by my grandfather Rev. Robert Lee Nicks. One of us still looks the same & its not me!

Nancy and I have been through 13 major hurricanes in a 1996 hurricane Fran came in island and devastated the Governors club in Chapel Hill North Carolina.

I believe over 13,000 trees were knocked over. The Governors club is set on a beautiful piece of property on Edwards mountain the highest point in Piedmont North Carolina to the east coast. On a clear Day you can see Raleigh North Carolina. Below is a snippet of Boca Raton which means the Mouth of the Rat in Spanish! We did many upgrades and renovations there. Practice bunker renovation.

Yes I’ve done this many times with the proper resources and staff. Below are the first two years of Sarasota and given time we were able to utilize best management practices following the “recession” and restore the greens ~postponing any huge capital expenses to the members. Those photos are a year apart the bottom photo is Fenruary 18, 2010. Then we got to fly over the office and really see how it was.

Matt Auen & Dave W. watching me catch all the fish. We Had to eat somehow. Two of the greatest men I have ever worked with. Love the SRQ. Hopefully will get back for a visit soon. Maybe for the Christmas Party. See y’all on the course.

Like this:

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!
Thank you Agronomy Team for a great week and owners for all your volunteer help! Both courses are looking great this weekend! Mr. Graves thank you for mowing rough! The Crabapples are blooming along with the Tulips, and other trees.